Mental Health and Wellness Initiatives in Academic Libraries
4/23/2019
12:00 PM -  1:00 PM

About This Session:

Academic libraries are hubs for collaboration, learning, and knowledge creation, but what about mental health? There are opportunities for libraries to play a key role in student wellness and growth across the academic year. From “library anxiety” to exam stress, we will talk about combatting mental health issues in a variety of unique, fun, and inexpensive ways that are applicable across multiple library sectors. This session will follow the students’ needs as they evolve throughout the academic year, including a discussion of ways to partner with the community and to promote student mental health both inside and outside the library.

Learning Goals:

Participants will have opportunities to brainstorm ideas, reflect on their own practices, and learn from each other. At the end of the session, they will walk away with tips on how to implement new initiatives in their own libraries.

About the Presenters:

Helen Power is an Information Services Librarian at the Leddy Library, University of Windsor. As chair of the PR committee and liaison to the International Student Centre, she’s passionate about identifying and implementing innovative ways of promoting mental health and wellness in students.

Sharon Munro is an Information Services Librarian at Leddy Library, University of Windsor. In addition to an MLIS degree, she also has Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Social Work. She believes strongly in the role that academic libraries can play to support mental health initiatives on university and college campuses.